EVER wandered what it’s like to climb telegraph poles for a living?

BT’s broadband company Openreach is offering potential trainees to immerse themselves in an engineer’s job thanks to virtual reality technology.

Anyone interested can use their mobile device or headset to watch a 3D, 360-degree video demonstrating what it’s like to climb a pole or to navigate an exchange building.

Openreach is looking to recruit around 30 people in Dorset, in locations including Bournemouth, Poole, Blandford and Dorchester.

It is part of a major expansion of its engineering workforce, with 170 trainees to be recruited in the South West overall.

Nationally, it is expected that an initial intake of 119 recruits will join the company in April, followed by around 60 joining each week through to mid-October.

New trainees will embark on a 12 month accredited learning programme - including on-the-job experience and culminating with the attainment of an externally recognised qualification for IT, Software and Telecoms professionals.

Karen Bradley, the government’s secretary of state for culture, media and sport, said: "The government's £1.7billion rollout programme has helped take superfast broadband to more than nine out of 10 homes and businesses in the UK and we are reaching thousands more every week. Openreach engineers have played a pivotal role in helping deliver this, and these 1,500 new recruits will be a fantastic addition to our thriving digital economy."

Openreach chief executive Clive Selley said: “Our customers need us to install new lines and repair our network faster than ever, and by increasing the number of people working on proactive network maintenance, we can fix more issues before people even notice them.”